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Catherine Thompson

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Catherine Thompson is a senior editor for Talking Points Memo in New York City. She came to the site in 2013 and reported on national affairs. Previously, she worked as a research assistant to investigative reporter Wayne Barrett. She can be reached at catherine@talkingpointsmemo.com.

One Republican member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi sought to visually demonstrate that Hillary Clinton had a "lack of interest in Libya" around the time of the terror attacks by placing huge piles of the former secretary of state's emails on the dais during a high-stakes Thursday hearing.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) has worn his promises that the House Select Committee on Benghazi's investigation is nonpartisan and "fact-centric" like armor ever since he took up the mantle of leadership on the panel.

But chinks in that armor are showing just days before Gowdy is set to grill Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton in a high-profile, public hearing. Ramped-up pressure from Democratic members of the panel in addition to GOPers' assertions that the investigation targeted Clinton have made Gowdy appear to be the lone voice still crying out for the "truth" behind the Benghazi attacks. The House GOP hasn't exactly sent in reinforcements for Gowdy, either, as its members continue to preoccupy themselves with finding a replacement for outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) who can satisfy both the establishment and insurgent wings of the bitterly divided chamber.

Benghazi committee Chair Trey Gowdy (R-SC) is now returning $6,000 in political donations that are indirectly tied to a PAC that ran a nasty anti-Hillary Clinton ad showing the grave of the U.S. ambassador killed in the 2012 attacks, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Gowdy is coughing up the money after the paper inquired about ties between Gowdy and Dan Backer, who used to serve as treasurer for Gowdy's now-defunct leadership PAC. Backer is now the treasurer of the The Stop Hillary PAC, which aired the ad that flashed images of all four Americans killed in the Benghazi attacks in addition to Ambassador Chris Stevens' grave, during the first Democratic presidential primary debate last week.